


more bars on the prison

by Achos_Laazov



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, backfire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 04:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10455111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achos_Laazov/pseuds/Achos_Laazov
Summary: Family is the only thing holding you together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a continuation of Broken Promises, from Penny's perspective. I wrote 4 or 5 drafts: I tried first, second, and third person. I tried dialog only, I tried mixing it up. It fought with me the whole time.
> 
> I switched to Tom's perspective and then this piece wrote itself.

You stroke Penny's hair and curl your pinky around hers, promising to help her draw a horse later. It's a luxury you treasure in your fishbowl of a home - the occasional stolen moments working alongside Penny's crayons, Leo's laptops, or Alex's law books. You hold those times tighter now, amid conspiracies and assassination attempts, aware what two inches to the left would have taken from you, would have stolen from your children, would have robbed from the country.

Alex is suggesting she and the kids move to Camp David temporarily, and that shocks you. Can't she tell that life in the public eye is difficult, and family time is your glue? Doesn't she realize that she keeps your heart beating almost as much as the surgeons at George Washington University; that the children hold you together more than the stitches on your chest?

You need your family to do your job, to keep you sane while you keep the country safe. But you need your family safe. And happy. That's the most important thing.

 

You clutch Penny's unfinished drawing as you watch their faces get smaller in the air until you can no longer see individuals. It feels like your heart is flying away to Camp David with them.

A father walked out of the White House with his family; a President returned, alone.


End file.
